(NaturalNews) A report published in the new journal Science Translational Medicine
has made an interesting discovery concerning the relationship between
sugar intake and the balance of intestinal flora. Researchers have
discovered that a diet high in sugar and fat substantially alters the
bacterial composition in the gut, making it difficult to maintain a
healthy weight.

Dr. Jeffrey Gordon of Washington University in
St. Louis has been accumulating research for years that highlights the
role intestinal bacteria plays in regulating bodily weight. Intestinal flora, sometimes called "good" bacteria, is vital for the proper digestion
of food and assimilation of nutrients into the blood. When digestive
bacteria is out of balance or otherwise altered, the body is unable to
convert otherwise indigestible foods into digestible form.

The research,
conducted on mice, experimented with implanting various strains of
bacteria into mice in order to observe their effects. The two primary
divisions of bacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes,
compose approximately 90 percent of all bacteria. Studies by Dr. Gordon
have revealed that Firmicutes bacteria are more efficient at digesting food that the body is unable to digest on its own.

With
this in mind, Dr. Gordon decided to experiment with the various
bacteria in gnotobiotic mice, or mice which had no bacteria in their
intestines because they were raised in a sterile environment. What he
found was that gnotobiotic mice who received bacteria from obese mice
became obese as well. Similarly, those gnotobiotic mice who received
lean-mice bacteria tended more towards leanness.

The same
experiment was tried with human intestinal bacteria and similar results
were achieved. What also became apparent was that mice who received
bacteria from lean human intestines had a much higher proportion of
Bacteroidetes than they did Firmicutes.

These mice, who began
with a low-fat diet rich in healthy plants, were switched to a
high-sugar, high-fat diet following the implant of the lean human
bacteria. It was discovered that within 24 hours, the two phyla
compositions switched resulting in the Firmicutes bacteria becoming
more dominant than the Bacteroidetes bacteria.

This study illustrates the powerful correlation between diet and health
in a way that has not typically been studied by researchers. The
foundation of bodily health lies in the gut where bacterial colonies
are designed to properly route and process nutrients for use in the
body. When they get thrown out of balance due to improper diet, the
entire body becomes susceptible to all sorts of diseases, including
obesity.